Day 241 - Discovery of 'Myself'

Finally! Finally, I think I have been able to zero in on a house that would suit both; my purse as well as my wife's expectations!  Hence the search for a buying a house in Mumbai is coming to an end.  Though we still have some way to go in terms of discussing and agreeing the nitty-gritties, light certainly can now be seen at the end of the tunnel.

While I was going through this process this week, I discovered an interesting fact about myself.  Maybe I should not say 'discovered'.  But I did think about it a lot.  The art of negotiation!  In the past, whenever I have been in a situation where I have needed to negotiate, in my personal or professional life, the first feeling has been, of a certain sense of wariness.  Wary of the expectation of a long and cumbersome process of negotiation.  It was no different this time. 

Negotiation is the process of communicating back and forth, for the purpose of reaching a joint agreement about differing needs or ideas. One would need a collection of skills and behaviors that involves communication, sales & marketing, psychology, sociology, assertiveness and conflict resolution.  Thinking about it, negotiation is all about getting to a situation where both sides win something for themselves. 

Inspite of the wariness, when I think back, most of the times, it would be safe to say that, I have come out of such situations with what I had expected to achieve.  Like yesterday!  So, what is it all about?  Can it be learnt or is it in the genetics?  Does experience make you better at it?  I think it is all of it.  My dad is someone who has probably spent a major part of his life at negotiations.  Maybe, I did pick up some stuff from him.  I remember, attending a Negotiation Skills training as well some years ago.  I also remember cursing myself for wasting time. However, I do believe that this is a skill which can be learnt.  Last but not the least, I think one has to depend a lot on past experiences and go by your instinct.

The key really is to be clear about your priorities about what you wish to achieve out of a negotiation and build enough flexibility around those objectives to be able to manoeuvre.

So much for my random thoughts about negotiation skills.  Out of my system now.  Right now, I am just glad that I was able to close the house deal yesterday.  A huge sense of relief.

By the way, I still hate negotiating!  Take care.

Day 234 - Media Abuse

Since the mid-eighties the one thing that I have very diligently followed is...News.  I have always been a current affairs maniac since my childhood.  Got into the habit of reading the newspapers when I was in the 5th standard at school.  To this date, the first thing that I look for in the morning is the newspaper.  A typical 'Madrasi Mama', I know!  If, for any reason, the newspaper isn't delivered on a given day, a sense of incompleteness prevails for the whole day.  In terms of visual media, since the days of Salma Sultan (with the mandatory flower) and Tejeshwar Singh (in his rich baritone) on Doordarshan I have been following the news.  'The World This Week' was the first current affairs based program that I really loved to watch.  I think the show opened up the world to us in a way that had never been attempted before.  Kudos to Prannoy Roy!

Speaking of Prannoy Roy, the psephologist par excellence, started delivering election results as well, in a way that no one had done before.  I was hooked again!  The liberalisation era opened up the media sector and there were these host of channels that started producing current affairs footage for all of the 24 hours in a day.  They even broadcast a war, live into our living rooms!  I was hooked onto channels like NDTV 24X7 and Aaj Tak (providing the Hindi dosage!).

Over the last couple years though, the media has gone crazy, especially the visual media.  Quantity has replaced quality.  Quality has nosedived.  Sensationalism is the mantra.  Clearly, commercialisation and competition is having an impact on the quality of the news.  The TV channels are bothered more about their circulation or TRP ratings.  Earlier, it was only restricted to local media but now even national TV news channels too have been hitting the screens with unusual stories, which have no relevance to the entire nation, apart from satisfying their voyeuristic tendencies.  These TV channels create episodes of their own based on suicide, crime, sex, corruption, magic and superstition which I guess, have nothing to do with news.  I DO NOT want to know about the domestic quarrel of a certain husband and wife in Meerut.  I DO NOT want to know about the goat which was born with an extra leg.  I DO NOT want to know the gory details of how a jilted lover took revenge by using acid!  Most importantly, I DO NOT want any of such episodes to be played again and again for an entire day, numbing my my senses.  I DO NOT consider these as news.

Journalism has hit a new low.  Needless to say, I hardly watch television news channels these days.  I still read the newspapers in the morning.  These have become booklets instead of the standard 10-12 pages of newsprint previously (some of the pages being full page commercial adverts); but they are not as bad as some of the visual media being dished out to us.

I am sure there will be more people out there who feel the same way.  I hope they outnumber those who like the programming of a few TV channels for their sensationalism.

Take care.

Day 228 - Ek Gharonde Ki Talaash!

In India, 'Roti, Kapda Aur Makaan' (Food, Clothing & Shelter) are said to be basic needs that every individual strives for day in and day out.  I did not realise till very recently how basic a need 'Makaan' really is.  It is a symbol of a sense of security.  It assures you that at the end of the day, you have a place of your own to go to; to rest after a hard day's work and unwind.  This weekend I was in the unenviable position of finding a new dwelling for myself, if I did not agree to my landlord's demands, in line with the market conditions.  The very thought of looking for a new place again, in a space of 10 months, was depressing.  But it did bring out very starkly the feeling of helplessness for not having a residence of your own.  I also suddenly realised the pain of those people who do not have an abode to go to at the end of the day.  Those who make do with temporary shelters under bridges, inside large pipelines, on the foot paths, etc.

India, by the way, leads the pack of top real estate investment markets in Asia for 2010, according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Urban Land Institute, a global non-profit education and research institute, released in December 2009. The report, which provides an outlook on Asia-Pacific real estate investment and development trends, points out that India, in particular Mumbai and Delhi, are good real estate investment destinations. Residential properties are viewed as more promising than other sectors. While, Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru top the pack in the hotel 'buy' prospects as well.

Amazing! This means that in this concrete jungle, that Mumbai has become, there is still more scope to build inanimate towers of bricks and mortar.  I have been on the lookout to buy a house for myself for the last few months in Mumbai. The timing hasn't been that great because due to the continued recovery of the investment markets, real estate prices have bounced back to original boom time levels, and in some cases, way above realistic levels.  At least way above 'my' realistic levels.  Due to this I have let go of some very good opportunities, expecting the prices to come down, as I thought the price rise is temporary and a result of the pent up supply in the system during the recessionary period.  It is probably not only me, because I did read reports of actual sales of residential properties coming down over the last few months due to the unrealistic price levels.  On the other hand, however, I hear that even at these unrealistic levels there is enough demand.  Only yesterday, a builder told me that he had closed bookings in a matter of hours, when he launched another tower in an existing project. Confusion!  What to do!?!

In a country like India, I guess, demand will always outstrip supply, as the PwC report indicates.  So, have I lost out by exiting from my property in Chennai?  Have I lost out on the opportunities of buying some good properties in Mumbai, just because I did not want to take the risk of buying in an inflated market?  Maybe, the wise thing to do for me now is to buy at current levels very soon.  I hope some interesting options come my way.

By the way, I did have a wonderful conversation with my landlord today which resulted in the resolution of my short term problem.  Hence, all is well.

Take care.

Day 227 - Mera Bharat Mahaan!

It was interesting reading Chetan Bhagat's column in this morning's newspaper.  This little piece of prose was about a conversation between the Prime Minister and his speech writer to discuss the content of the PM's Independence Day speech from the Red Fort in New Delhi.  It was a funny take on the apparent lack of focus of the PM and his government to deal with the real issues and only wait for the instructions from 'you know who'!

Jokes apart, on the eve of India's 63rd Independence Day, as is the custom every year, there is a multitude of material written with the intent of analysing India's progress in the 63 years that we have had to define our destiny as a country.  There are umpteen number of television shows on the same subject in this period as well.  Obviously, patriotism, and more importantly, the criticism of how we have progressed as a country after our independence in 1947, is big business and makes good newsprint.

I have a slightly differing view.  I think, as a nation, we have progressed wonderfully well in the last 63 years!  True, we haven't done as well as a Singapore or a Thailand, but the fact of the matter is, that these countries have not had to work on such a vast and complex landscape, that India has had to.  A country where there is a multitude of religions, castes and creed, a country where the dialect of the various languages spoken changes every 500 kms, a country which is large enough to have all the natural resources, a country which has many rivers, mountain ranges and deserts, a country where the difference between the rich and the poor is large that it cannot be bridged ever, a country where there is complete freedom of speech and a country where there are the resultant large number of political parties and their definitions of progress!

I think we have done very well in most sectors; agriculture, manufacturing, technology and services being at the forefront.  We have had lop-sided development in some of the socially relevant sectors such as education, health and sanitation.  Nonetheless, we have still moved forward.  Some of the sectors have received attention a little late; infrastructure being the best example.

The one sector that we probably have not been able to progress much has been the 'mindset' sector.  Majority of the populace of this nation seem to be plagued by a disease called inferiority complex.  For example, even today, the fairer your skin, the more respect you are likely to command!  We have a long way to go to be able to respect ourselves as an able nation, have the confidence to be the best in the world, able and willing to participate, collaborate and lead.  This is the sector which I intend to track our progress on.  I think this is what will expedite our progress in all the other sectors in the years to come.

Happy Independence Day!  Take care.

Day 216 - The Scandalous Games

Hosting an event of the scale of the Commonwealth Games is definitely a national honour, and responsibility, although the Commonwealth itself as an organisation, may be completely defunct.  Over the past few months, however, the media has been going on and on about about how badly prepared are we to host the Games.

There have been many allegations. 

Allegation No.1: The infrastructure is not ready.  The construction at the various venues for the Games is not complete.  Building materials are still lying around at the venues; probably the Indian athletes are fortunate, especially the long jumpers, steeple chasers and marathon runners, as they might have used these as an effective hurdle training course, in their attempts to get to these venues to practice!

Allegation No.2: Everything which has been built has been hurriedly built and is of inferior quality.  Roofs are leaking and the walls already have cracks.  Imagine a weightlifter in serious contention of a medal, attempting a 250 KG 'clean and jerk', and right then droplets of leaking water from the roof hitting his pate.  I think we need raincoats for the weightlifters!

Allegation No.3: Huge financial irregularities.  Treadmills have been hired for Rs.9, 50, 000 each for a period of 45 days!  Some smart bloke in the papers has gone and found out the cost of buying the costliest  treadmill from Harrods, which happens to be around Rs.7, 00, 000.  A contract for media displays during the Queen's Baton Run across India has been awarded to a one man company, whose company is in liquidation in UK.  It is a pity; even the common man's hard earned money could not save his company.  But the interesting part is that there is no document to prove that there was a contract, even though money changed hands, just before the company went into liquidation, incidentally.

All this when we have 2 months to go for the event to happen.  A showcase event meant to demonstrate to the world India's capabilities in hosting high profile events, thus strengthening our future bids for hosting the Asian Games and the Olympics.  And then there is politics involved; no surprises, wherever money is involved, politics has to be present.  The opposition wants the entire Organising Committee to be sacked, including its Chairman, who is the sports administrator extraordinaire in India!  I think they should themselves resign, the money they have already made should definitely last for a couple of lifetimes. 

Amidst all of this, nobody is worried about the pride of the country which is at stake.  The Games are already a marketing disaster, with the common man / middle class showing complete apathy and no interest in the conduct of these games.  We will also miss stars such as Usain Bolt, who has given New Delhi the miss to prepare for more important events.

My view is that the entire might of the nation should right now be focused on ensuring that the conduct of the Games happens reasonably well, the chances of it being a resounding success are already nil.  After the Games are over, there needs to be a serious debate on the role of politicians in sports administration.  Sports administration is the honey which attracts every politician, big or small, stature doesn't matter.  If the Games end up being a damp squib, Mr.Kalmadi needs to be held accountable for it and forever banned from being a sports administrator.

In the meantime, let us pray for the smooth conduct of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Take care.